A.G. Gancarski
The second of three debates between Lenny Curry and Alvin Brown was like the middle part of a fifteen round prizefight. Neither guy knocked each other out. Both guys threw hard shots from beginning to end though.
On Monday afternoon, the Brown campaign called their shot: they pledged to hit Curry hard on his record as RPOF Chair, and sure enough, they did. Curry, meanwhile, made no such guarantees. However, he continued with an argument that he’s been making for some time now. On issue after issue, claimed Curry, the mayor is “not in the game.”
The debate started off inauspiciously when neither man would say, when asked, who he would vote for in the Sheriff’s race, an evasion which frustrated moderator Shannon Ogden. The non-answer was probably the only moment of accord in what was a contentious evening full of drama both on the stage, and afterward, when both candidates spoke to the press.
From there, the candidates addressed the violent crime that is tearing apart NW Jacksonville. Curry mentioned the 10 year old boy that he met in Grand Park who watched a friend of his get shot in the chest. Brown, meanwhile, said that the “violent crime that’s taken place over the last few weeks” was “heartbreaking,” and he pledged to “address root causes,” something that Brown contended that Curry wouldn’t do.
From there, it was on.
Curry lambasted Brown, saying that the mayor had “four years to deal with the violence and crime plaguing the streets,” and that the problem was made worse by his defunding of Jacksonville Journey programs.
Brown retorted that he was focused in investing in the community, citing his outreach to the Department of Justice.
Another major point of contention: the Times-Union endorsement of Curry.
Brown responded to the local daily’s critique of his budgeting process by saying that he had produced “four balanced budgets without a tax increase,” and created an “economic environment that put people back to work… unlike my opponent.”
The unlike my opponent trope recurred throughout the debate, serving as a functional refrain, along with the mayor’s references to his track record.
Curry fired back that Brown “is the one leading partisan attacks” to distract from “the city’s finances in shambles.”
Brown then replied that his “proven track record” was why “Bill Bishop endorsed me,” as opposed to Curry, who “has spent the last four years dividing people.”
Speaking of dividing people, Curry’s “direct question” to Brown was a doozy.
He cited, again, Brown’s “negative campaign,” replete with “race baiting” and assertions that Curry would “turn back the clock.” And then he dropped a bomb of a question: “Do you think I’m racist?”
Brown didn’t back down.
“At the end of the day, you will turn back the clock,” he said, citing positions he claimed that Curry held during his tenure as RPOF chair. “Your track record speaks for itself.”
In contrast, “I haven’t been involved in partisan politics” as Mayor.
Brown’s direct question to Curry, comparatively, was a softball (and was foreshadowed in the media call earlier on Monday). He asked the Republican if the economy was worse than four years ago.
Curry did not back down. “Large pockets of the community have been left behind,” he said, quoting Rick Scott in saying that “our economy lags behind every major city.”
Curry then went on the offensive, talking about the infamous mailpiece that Denise Lee found to be so objectionable, and calling it “gutter politics” (a statement he would amplify during the media availability, calling such tactics “the politics of personal destruction” with a Clintonian flourish).
The invective continued, fast and furious, as the two men brawled over solutions for the westside. Brown spoke eloquently about the pathology of “abject poverty, broken homes, and poor education” before accusing Curry of “hiding behind the sheriff.”
Curry countered that “things aren’t being done” about the “violence, crime, and murder plaguing Jacksonville.” He vowed to restore the 147 cops to the street and provide funding for “access to hope and opportunity.” This led Brown to mention that Council had cut Jacksonville Journey programs, to which Curry had a reply that resonated, talking about the mayoral penchant for “personal attacks” and saying that problems are “always someone else’s fault.”
“He’s never in the game.”
Curry got another hard shot in soon thereafter, in a discussion of Mayor Brown’s recent adoption of a state-mandated minimum wage as an issue, asking the mayor: “where have you been for four years?”
Soon enough, we got to a hot topic: the HRO expansion. Many Brown supporters were hoping for an evolution on this issue, like they’ve seen on others. They didn’t get it on Monday night. Brown stated that it was “very important” to allow the General Counsel to do his job and go through the process” and “review all forms of discrimination.”
Despite multiple attempts to get an LGBT-specific answer, moderator Shannon Ogden failed, though he did bring a smirk to Curry’s face with the grilling. I had no better luck in getting the mayor to even acknowledge the specific concerns of LGBT citizens, and the specific discrimination they face, in my question to him after the event.
Curry, meanwhile, famously has stated that he is “unconvinced” that laws need to be changed. Would he support protection just in case?
“I’m not convinced that we need to change the law,” Curry said, holding to a position that is an endless source of frustration to pretty much every member of the local media.
That said, Curry managed to go on the offense against the mayor here, saying that Brown was “punting on the issue,” demonstrating “zero accountability,” and pledging that he will “lead a public conversation.”
Jacksonville voters have attempted, with no success, to parse these candidates’ real convictions on this issue for months in Curry’s case, and years in Brown. This debate got them no closer to an answer. That said, Brown did drive Curry to clarify his position, when the Republican said that “I have never said that there are no instances of discrimination.”
The candidates waded out of the treacherous waters of the HRO into a discussion of education, in which both men sounded familiar tropes. Curry emphasized his commitment to “after school programs” concentrated in building academic clubs related to STEM; Brown reminded Jacksonville that he was the first in his family to go to college, reiterating a personal narrative theme.
Curry then levied a specific criticism, saying that there were hundreds of kids in Jacksonville Journey programs, and only around 90 in Learn2Earn. “We must care about kids” and demonstrate that caring with budget priorities.
Brown fired back, claiming that Curry was “looking for press” and was “just in [these] neighborhoods because he’s running for mayor.”
Curry fired back soon thereafter, as the discussion moved to the Jacksonville Beaches, where he claimed that elected officials argued that “the mayor has been absent the last four years.”
Whatever the topic, the themes were the same. Brown forced Curry to defend his role as RPOF Chair; Curry did, saying that he was proud of the work he had done to “get Rick Scott and free-enterprise Republicans elected.” Brown also attacked Curry, saying that “he’s been lying about who we are and what we’ve accomplished,” relative to the oft-discussed economic numbers.
Curry’s response, that “there are real people being left behind in this economy,” is assuredly true, as any drive down Soutel, Moncrief, North Edgewood, Myrtle Avenue, Golfair, and so many other streets reveals. Will those voters vote for Lenny Curry? That is the open question.
Brown asserted that “elections are about the future.” Curry’s response, that “over the last three weeks, the mayor has taken new positions on so many issues,” is technically true. But the Brown bet seems to be that he can get to 51% by laying out a slightly left-of-center policy agenda, and hoping the base will rally toward it.
After the debate, the two men made their cases to the media, but not before an interesting moment in front of the assembled print press and bloggers, when Curry asked Brown if he was going to drop the objectionable radio ads and literature; Brown gave no response.
After that drama, I asked Curry about Brown’s unwillingness to address the LGBT issues. Curry contended that “on the tough stuff, he’s not in the game; on the visionary stuff, it’s not his responsibility.”
There was also a suggestion that the polemic had gotten to him. “I signed up for this,” Curry said. However, “I did not sign up for attacks.”
Brown stayed on the attack during the press availability. When I asked him about Johnny Gaffney deciding to endorse Curry and Denise Lee criticizing the advertisements, Brown stayed steadfast.
“I’m not running a negative ad. It’s a fact that he tried to suppress the vote,” he said, adding that “I’m the only candidate making sure to review all forms of discrimination.”
“These are the facts,” Brown asserted.
“He’s been running a negative campaign and none of y’all reported it,” Brown said to me and another reporter about PAC mailers and TV ads.
“He tried to take away Early Voting: that’s turning back the clock,” he added.
“It’s important to let voters know the clear contrast in the race,” Brown continued, regarding his “proven track record.”
With one more debate between the two men, both candidates will probably continue in this vein. The question will be one of how far Brown can go in his messaging to pull together the disparate elements of his coalition, without sacrificing his appeal to swing voters. He finally has incorporated the “party boss” motif into his messaging, without using that phrase. He’s become the “fighting Democrat” that partisans have yearned for.
The question is this: do Jacksonville voters at large want that?
